Noise Alert!

The City is trying to change the Noise Bylaw — and not in our favour. The changes would allow noise inside our homes from an outside source (amplified music, construction, clubs , etc.) at 85 dBA from 7 am to 11 pm. That is equal to a snow blower running all day! New York City’s dBA limit for homes is 42 dBA.

To make matters worse, residents can only contest excessive noise by having an inspector from Municipal Licences and Standards (MLS) visit their homes to measure the sound levels. The MLS’s few noise inspectors failed to monitor outdoor noise levels in the past, so how could this new system work for us?

York Quay Neighbourhood Association (YQNA) studied the proposed changes and strongly objects. On the Waterfront, we have more than a dozen outdoor concert venues with hundreds of live music events a year. We also have party boats on the lake with amplified music, and airplanes overhead from the island airport.

We urge you strongly to speak up. Insist on keeping the old bylaw, which protects residents from being disturbed in their own homes at all hours, and allows them to present evidence of disturbance. Once these general prohibitions are gone, your health and privacy could be on the line. Provincial legislation limits the noise at point of reception — such as your home — to 50 dBA. The City now asks us to live with 85 dBA, which is 12 times the 50 dBA on a calibrated scale!

YQNA is urging residents, councillors and neighbourhood associations to object to this change. We have until Feb. 15, 2016 to add our voices. The City document is here.

You may use this content in your protest:

I, (or neighbourhood association or other civic group) strongly protest the proposed changes to the City Noise Bylaw. I request that the General Prohibition (591-1), which protects residents from being disturbed in their own homes at all hours, and allows them to present evidence of disturbance, remain unchanged.

No multiple noise exemptions can be granted to concert venues, but must be granted one by one and be approved by the local city councillor.